Walrus bring their psych-pop sounds to Grickle Grass Festival

Welcome weather right for shorts, plant a garden in a bottle or gather round for live music at the fifth annual Grickle Grass Festival, brought to you by Out of Sound Records, 379 Collective and Londonfuse.

The event comes to the London Regional Children’s Museum on Saturday with daytime activities for families (a collage party, book fair, cooking classes, a scavenger hunt, button making, gardening and 16 mm film screenings), as well as a party in the evening featuring seven live music acts.

One of the headliners is psych-pop band Walrus from Halifax, made up of two brothers Justin and Jordan Murphy (vocals/guitar and drummer, respectively), Justin McGrath (lead guitar), Adam Ledrew (bass) and Adam Gravelle (synth).

A screen printer by day, 23-year-old Jordan is the band’s singer-songwriter and his instrument of choice is the 12-string guitar.

“I play rhythm, and it makes what I do a lot fuller. I bought it last June when we were at NXNE in Toronto. I’d wanted one for a long time, but we didn’t have any in Halifax. And I didn’t have any money,” says Jordan, who grew up in Truro.

“My brother lent me the money so I could get it, and I played it at the festival.”

The Murphy brothers started Walrus about two years ago when Jordan moved to Halifax.

“My brother is quite the drummer, which is a good ace in your pocket for sure,” says Jordan.

The band’s influences include the Beatles (especially the Magical Mystery Tour album), Pink Floyd, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, as well as more modern takes on the genre such as MGMT and Tame Impala.

Jordan also promotes his love of neo-psychedelic vibrations through his independent label Poncho Records.

“I just thought all my friend’s bands were really good, and if I didn’t put them out, they would just be up online, which is not as cool as having it in your hands,” he says.

Other performers at this year’s Grickle Grass Festival include Zaki Ibrahim, Absolutely Free, New Zebra Kid, Wormwood, Jennifer Castle, Misha Bower and DJ Aaron. Tickets for the nighttime event are $25 on eventbrite.ca and $30 at the door. Day programming costs $7 at the door.